The Ninetieth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

Don't forget - if you happen to find a Hobbit first edition it may get you £10,000 like this Dundee charity shop copy (Opens in a new window).

Also, if you happen to have Dorothy L. Sayers' personal copy (Opens in a new window) of the publication Tolkien was first ever published in - it will definitely go to auction.

Events & Shows

People in Augusta, Georgia, can visit The Art of the Rings at Le Chat Noir (Opens in a new window), 'an exhibition of local artists works inspired by The Lord of the Rings.'

The No Strings Marionette Company (Opens in a new window) is bringing The Hobbit to life in October (Opens in a new window) in New York at the Doctorow Center.

Profs and Pints DC is bringing Peter Grybauskas (Opens in a new window) (ed. to Battle of Maldon) to Washington, DC.

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship and Fandom

Tweaking Things a Little (Opens in a new window) by Honegger and Larrington is out on July 19th.

The Museum of the Great War at Meaux is having guided tours and talks in July 'in the footsteps of Tolkien (Opens in a new window)' to commemorate his passing fifty years ago.

Franchise and Merchandise

Alan Lee is the artist for the upcoming 2024 Tolkien Calendar (Opens in a new window).

The moment collectible card games arrived on the fantasy and science fiction market with Magic: The Gathering back in the 1990s huge parts of fandom changed. It is not surprising that collectors' boxes prices are soaring (Opens in a new window) - due to that one One Ring card having been handled at $2+ million (Opens in a new window). [Polygon; WSJ (paywall)] P.S. Someone in Toronto (Opens in a new window) found it. [CBC]

On a more positive note, the head designer (Opens in a new window) for this version of MTG, Mark Rosewater (Opens in a new window), has been given one of the industry's major honours.

And hilariously enough, Bakshi's LotR film (Opens in a new window) is part of this MTG edition.

If you feel like investing some of your money Tolkien's letters are an excellent option - at a recent auction they were sold well above asking price (Opens in a new window) [Artdaily].

The actress playing Galadriel with the LotR musical at the Watermill (Opens in a new window) has given an interview. [Westend Best Friend]

Inter alia & Back in the day

A set of signed Tolkien letters was auctioned off well above estimate prices (Opens in a new window); the one in which he compares himself to a hobbit went for $20,000; more background info (Opens in a new window). [Fine Books Magazine]

Paramount+ axed a number of shows, including Star Trek: Prodigy (Opens in a new window). [Variety] Engadget notes this happens for a tax-write-off (Opens in a new window).

The Writers' Strike (Opens in a new window) is now getting bigger with the actors and actresses joining in - because studios now suggested scanning performers as 3d models once, paying them for a day, and then owning their image 'for the rest of eternity'. [Vulture]

Rings of Power did get Emmy nominations (Opens in a new window) but not the more important ones. [Hollywood Reporter]

The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction has announced this year's shortlist (Opens in a new window). [Locus]

AHSOKA (Opens in a new window)'s offical trailer is out (let's be honest, it is all about Thrawn!)

Nice to listen to GRRM talking about Zelazny (Opens in a new window) etc.

It is often the ingenuity of one person that makes a book a bestseller - for France this was Christine Baker (Opens in a new window) who bought the rights to Harry Potter and several Tolkien publications for Gallimard Jeunesse (Opens in a new window). [Guardian]

According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's, the bookshop of my personal trust.

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
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